An electric moment: Car show coming to Natick Mall

Friday

A Natick resident is passionate about electric cars, and she wants to see more on the road.

NATICK – May Arthur is proud of her electric car.

Arthur backed her 2014 Tesla Model S out of her garage, and showed off its features, including storage under the hood and a dashboard computer screen that showed the nearest Tesla charging station.

Arthur wants to spread the word about electric vehicles, including what she believes are their environmental benefits.

“We want to spread the word to other people,” Arthur said, and she’s doing it by teaming up with Natick officials to host an electric car show 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sept. 15 at the Natick Mall.

Athur’s red Tesla will be one of the cars on display in the parking garage behind Wegmans. Most are privately owned. One is part of Natick’s growing municipal fleet of electric cars, and there will also be an electric bicycle.

Natick has five electric cars in its fleet, according to Jillian Wilson-Martin, the town’s sustainability coordinator. All are paid for with grants from the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources.

The town is exploring the possibility of adding another to serve as a bucket truck for the fire department, Wilson-Martin said.

Natick has three electric charging stations for public use at no charge. They’re located at the Community-Senior Center, the parking lot behind the police and fire stations on East Central Street near the center of town, and a parking lot on Pond Street.

Arthur’s Tesla has less than 50,000 miles on the odometer, and she raves about fewer maintenance headaches, like no oil changes.

Charging is easy, Arthur said, because she can hook up her Tesla to a 220-volt outlet in her garage, which gives 30 miles for every hour of charging. She also has solar panels on her home, and uses the power they generate to charge her car.

There's a growing appetite for electric cars, according to the American Automobile Association - 20 percent, or 50 million Americans, will likely go electric when buying their next car, up from 15 percent last year.

Arthur isn't the first in her family to go down the path of environmental activism. Her daughter, Adrienne, started a textile recycling program several years ago when she was a student at Natick High School.

The program has generated more than $20,000 for the Natick public schools since it started in May 2013. Bins are in every public school and at the town’s Recycling Center. For every ton of textiles collected, the company that hauls away the town’s recycled materials makes a $100 donation to the public schools.

Arthur has attended electric car shows for many years, and she brought the first one to Natick at last summer’s Farmers Market. That show had fewer than a dozen cars, and so far, 14 have registered for this year’s show at the Natick Mall.

“It’s important to learn about (electric car) options,” Wilson-Martin said of this year’s show. “It’s an opportunity for people to learn how they work, and decide if owning one is feasible for them.”

Follow Henry Schwan on Twitter @henrymetrowest. He can be reached at hschwan@wickedlocal.com or 508-626-3964